‘Rude Recliners, Armrest Hogs, Shoulder Surfers’: Are You an Annoying Traveler?
Travel Blog • Valerie Conners • 11.26.08 | 11:10 AM ET
Photo by A recent poll of travelers’ most irritating behavior by TripAdvisor.com indicates that the number one annoyance is having children kick the back of your seat. Also making the list: people eating stinky meals, loud cellphone talkers and folks taking too long to load their overhead luggage (you know who you are!). And yet there may be help for the irritating traveler.
Salon published a very funny and very snarky essay highlighting how not to be a bothersome traveler. Asks writer Patrick Smith, “Are there really that many people who don’t know that oversize liquids and sharp tools are verboten on aircraft? What, you mean I can’t fly with a gallon of antifreeze (I saw it), my favorite claw hammer or a replica handgun? Since when?”
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Valerie Conners is the senior producer and editor at World Hum.
TambourineMan 11.26.08 | 3:10 PM ET
Ah yes, seat kicking kids. Had one of the little buggers behind me on a flight last week. They shouldn’t be allowed on board unless restrained like Hannibal Lecter.
Another annoyance is laptop movie watchers. They’re always watching some awesome looking flick. Look, if I have to suffer through Mama Mia, so do you, ace.
Jennifer 11.26.08 | 4:23 PM ET
Add to the list, travelers who don’t know the alphabet, how to count, or how to interpret a simple instructional picture and find their way to their ASSIGNED seat. Then, when you point out to them that they are in your seat, they look at you as if you’re the one who’s made the mistake! Whatever happened to a simple, “Oh, I’m sorry, my mistake”?
GrizzlyBearMOm 11.27.08 | 7:43 PM ET
I ride the commuter train daily. We were so annoyed by noisy phone chat that we petitioned MARC and now have quiet cars where cell phones and electronic devices without headphones are prohibited! GO MARC! I wear dark glasses (on a string) to facilitate sleep, but bring a (leadership) book in case I can’t. (I’m going to make Senior Executive commuting!) When flying I take Benadryl so I can sleep through people NOT giving it to their children. But help the kiddies entertain them if I can. Its HARD keeping still for so long when your a kid and parents get worn out. I also pack jerky/granola bar type snacks just in case. Keeping the perspective that I ride/fly because its cheaper and easier helps me deal the annoying behavior of others.
Raymond E. Foster 12.15.08 | 8:31 PM ET
I really really hate the “can we sit together people.” PLAN better, no I don’t want to give up the aisle, no I don’t want to be further back in the plane. No, I don’t want my stuff way out of reach in the overhead compartment - GO AWAY